Beyond The Wall

Chapter 3.1

/THREE/

The next several hours melted together in a symphony of chaos, the strings of time plucked until the sounds of reason existed no more. At one point, I was in the back of a van, nodding in and out of consciousness, as one of those men pressed something, a cloth, against the back of my head. When my eyes opened again, I saw the pavement once more while I was dragged by two of my kidnappers, the sun hitting my skin every so often. There was a dark room. The floor was cold and hard, but I could only focus on the pounding sensation in my head, and the dizziness it caused when I attempted to stand up. And then, I was in a chair.

A bright light blasted my eyes, worse than the sun itself, and I shielded myself the best I could from its assailing rays, realizing that my arms were chained to the armrests. Metal scraping against concrete tore my attention from the blinding light, a man pulling up a seat across from me, ten feet away. Once my eyes adjusted, I could make out the shape of the man's face, his nose crooked and chin covered in a patchy, black beard.

"Who are you?" I strained to say from a dry throat. "What do you want?"

"Samuel Keane: Age Seventeen. Student at Liberty Secondary of the Jasmine District. Apartment 1302 of the Royal Oak. Mother's name is Giana Keane. No father. You also were just accepted into the Inner Circle's very own University."

My heart sank. But I did not react. I held my tongue and waited for the man to make his point. He tipped his chin towards me, his gray irises catching the light for a moment. I tried to maintain eye contact, to seem like I was strong, but I was frightened. My heart threatened to burst through my chest and run away with each passing second, and I could feel my breathing become heavier.

The holo on my wrist vibrated, a display popping up and presenting a video feed. It was of a camera in a specific alley, at a specific time, with a specific dead woman. And me. I stood far from her body, but it was too dark at the edge of the video to see the murderer. I watched as she reached out, and then her head fell, and then the pool of red liquid followed. There was no sound, but I could hear her screams in my head.

Hurried breaths could not help quell the panic that began to build in my chest. My heart expanded with each thud, pressing at my ribcage, begging to escape.

I tried to turn, biting away tears, but one of the suits behind me grabbed the top of my head and spun me back, forcing me to watch the rest of the film. It switched from one camera to another, this one located on a nearby streetlight, aimed directly at me as I darted through the throngs of the crowd that night. Last night...

Sheer panic was written all over my reddened face as they zoomed in on me. It was over. I was screwed. I couldn't make any more excuses.

"Your levels are through the roof," the man said, one of his eyes lit up with a teal, geometric shape hovering in front of it. He blinked and it went away. "Well, that makes our jobs easier. No need to interrogate further. We've found a mishap which needs correcting. You'll be sent to the Corrective Behavior Facility for three years in order to correct your behavior regarding stress. Failure will result in termination."

As he stood up, I lunged forward, screaming, my heart sinking into my stomach now.

"No!" I howled, pulling against the chains, trying to tear myself from the chair. I didn't care if I broke every bone in my body. I had never felt this sort of fear or pain before. It was a worse pain than when Dad died.

Two men grabbed my shoulders, shoving me further back into the seat. I threw my head around, fighting, embracing this urge to live. I knew if I went with these people, that I'd never come back. This wasn't fair.